Lotto NZ has revealed it's changing the way players buy and check online tickets for Saturday's epic $50m must-be-won Powerball draw, and how it communicates about winners.
In a statement, Lotto said they'll reveal where the winning tickets were bought on Sunday - not Saturday like usual.
It's to ensure players "have a chance to check their tickets individually before details of where the winning tickets were sold are made public", according to Lotto.
Powerball's maximum jackpot of $50m has only been struck twice before, both times in 2020.
Up to 2 million tickets are expected to be sold.
Changes to virtual opening times
As a result, wait times on MyLotto (website and app) are expected to be lengthy, so Lotto is also changing its digital opening times.
Players who try to buy a ticket after 6:30pm Saturday may be put in a virtual queue to manage website traffic.
And although ticket sales close at 7:30pm, the queue will be used again after the draw results are released at about 9:15pm as thousands will be logging in again to check tickets.
MyLotto's site will also reopen on Sunday at 10am, later than normal, to allow time to process all the tickets.
Finding out where winning tickets were sold
On Saturday, Lotto will release the winning ball numbers, the number of winning tickets, and the amounts won by each for Powerball, Strike and Lotto.
Then at about midday Sunday, Lotto will release the locations and stores where the winning tickets were sold (including online tickets).
"We would like to thank customers in advance for their patience as we manage what we expect to be exceptional interest in the results of this huge draw," said head of corporate communications Lucy Fullarton.
She said Lotto wants to ensure players can enjoy the anticipation, and be able to check their tickets before they find out elsewhere.
The prize pool has slowly been building every week since mid-April, when one Carterton player banked $30m.
If struck by a single player, they'll become the biggest-ever lottery winner in Aotearoa.
